I was just turning into the home straight on the way home with the paper (and by the way, I think I really want one of these. Slow cycling indeed…) when I was pleased to see a little ginger creature darting down from a tree and out into the road …
… and even more pleased to see it do an instant u-turn when it saw me coming (they must have spring loaded spines those squirrels) and dart back up the tree. It’s nice to know that, after all we’ve gone through to protect them that the red squirrels are still around, for now at least. And it’s even nicer to know that they’re finally learning a little road sense
Red squirrels preffer not to spend time on the ground or in the open (unlike greys), if they are able to cross the roads without going to the ground they will do. So in some places people have started putting in squirrel crossings.
Infrastructure is always the answer …
What a superb idea for carrying a paper, its like spring clamps on carriers, a rare sight in the bike shops now but great for just a paper or posting a letter. Now I keep a cargo net on the carrier for such occasions.
Glad to hear about the red squirrels, a not very common sight sadly now.
I’ve got bungees on my back rack but they’ve lost their sproing and no longer hold a paper securely. I suppose I could put a knot in them
Get a short length of plastic pipe about 4 inches in diameter — newspaper length plus about an inch — and two end caps that fit. Glue one cap on. Don’t glue the other one. Then you can either drill pairs of holes in the side of the pipe to wire it to part of the bike frame or across the front of the handlebars, or put it under your bungees on the carrier. (I bet the mister could come up with some kind of clips for easy attachment and removal). When you’ve gotten the paper, take off the cap, put the paper in the pipe, put the cap back on, and pedal away. This insures you get home with (a) newspaper that is (b) in one piece and (c) dry. Works for magazines, mail, etc. You can probably get an “odd” length of pipe for cheap (or free) from your local “home” store.
Wouldn’t that suffer from the disadvantage that you can’t read your newspaper while riding if you happen to be enjoying the 5 minutes of sunshine a year that Scotland seems to get?
Or an old whisky tube, for added local authenticity. Would need to rainproof it though
Now that would be an invitation to get stopped for drink riding!